Field
This U.S. patent application relates generally to presenting age-appropriate content in a user interface.
Description of Related Art
Online content providers have large libraries containing hundreds, if not thousands, of items of content available to content consumers. For special populations, such as children, some of this content can be inappropriate and is typically blocked from members of those populations. Even regarding the content that is not blocked, some of the allowed content can be inappropriate for certain members of the population. For instance, among children, content targeted to adolescents is inappropriate for toddlers. Further, adolescents may react unfavorably to being shown content targeting toddlers.
It is generally accepted that children develop according to a known sequence of stages. However, individual children advance through these stages at different rates. Some children may advance so quickly that they appear to skip certain stages while others may appear to be stuck in a particular stage for a longer than normal period of time. Thus, two children at the same chronological age can be at very different stages of development. Further, the same child may be at one developmental stage in one area of development (e.g., communication skills) but at another stage in another area of development (e.g., fine motor control). Herein, the term, “developmental stage” refers to the current developmental stage(s) of the child. The developmental stage does not necessarily correspond to the chronological age of the child.
Content is targeted to children according to chronological age. However, it is well known that children consume content targeted outside of their chronological age. Further, as discussed above, the chronological age of the child does not necessarily reflect the developmental stage of the child.